JBM Music

AIB have worked closely with JBM music since 2021 where we provided security for their first Reggaeland event. Now nearly 5 years later we have seen the event develop from an 8,000-capacity crowd to a 50,000-capacity crowd in an event that runs across the weekend. JBM, whose events are largely based in Manchester, have also recently began running events at the Milton Keynes Bowl, generating one of our largest staff deployments to date. In August 2024 AIB tackled 4 days and 3 events at the MK Bowl as the sole security provider and full safety management of each event day.

Due to the nature of the event space and with events that always typically reached their crowd capacity, the planning for each one started at the end of each year’s wash-up meeting. As the event began growing so did the production crew, the security teams and event space alike. As we provided site security for the event space leading up to each weekend, our management team had full access to set up search procedures and create a heavily detailed deployment plan. This consisted of splitting the space into 8 zones all headed up by a manager and supervisor, we had 2 entry points with enhanced search zones and drugs dogs as well as a dedicated back of house team for all performers and guests.

Reggaeland welcomed 35,000 attendees per day across the weekend, with our largest deployment of staff to date we provided 25 management staff, 66 response staff, 115 SIA licensed staff and 110 stewards as well as a dedicated team of 10 back of house staff members dedicated to the events artists and production staff as well as 5 close protection officers across the site as well. As well as this, due to the family nature of the event, AIB introduced a new role to our team in the form of a safeguarding officer and dedicated response team to help support missing and vulnerable children and lone people. The preparation for this event took over a year of planning and working alongside the client were able to provide a safe and enjoyable environment for the attendees.

This event typically is quite a respectful and pleasant environment meaning our response teams weren’t having to deal with large aggressive interactions. Our largest issue faced for response teams this weekend was breaches into the event, although secured by venue management as there was a public footpath running around the site. Due to this we ejected those trespassing and used our mobilisation plan to ensure SIA staff were coving positions that were vulnerable to breaches.

In terms of general security and stewarding we provided staff covering fire exits, entry points and bars to support the general safety of attendees. A key factor of the work we did across the weekend was monitoring crowd control as with a large capacity crowd and multiple stages moving around the event became a hotspot for vulnerable people. Having our staff around to assist attendees when needed allowed us to make people feel more comfortable but also meant we could quickly change egress, and mobilisation plans to deal with over-crowding in certain areas.

Another key issue faced was dealing with aggression and complaints regarding toilets, bar wait times or even just intoxicated complaints. Our staff were all able to listen and provide support regarding complaints or provide them with a contact for who they could issue their complaint too. If the attendee became aggressive our SIA licensed staff were able to diffuse the situation until a response team arrived, with our stewarding staff having management or security teams in close proximity for support.

Our response teams also ran our enhanced search teams and supported our search teams during busy periods. For those supporting our search teams they were there as a presence in case of the search wand indicating. To keep the queues moving anyone that triggered the search wand was moved to one side for a pat down search to allow the flow of ingress to continue. Our enhanced search teams worked closely with management and local police to safely collect any prohibited items and eject those necessary.

Due to the large number of artists during this event and issues we had faced the previous year, this year we introduced our dedicated back of house team. We ensured that only those with specific accreditations were allowed entry to provide all talent with the opportunity to feel safe within the event before heading on stage. We had a small number of people that attempted to gain entry backstage however due to our strict procedures only those with the correct accreditation were allowed to permit entry to those not on a list.

Our only prominent back of house issues across the weekend came from artist guests within the area. A small number of them, although spoken to beforehand, decided to disrupt other artists while waiting to go on stage. Our back of house manager worked alongside the client and artist liaison to ensure any issues were resolved and warned the guests of the potential removal if they were to continue disrupting the event.

Across the weekend there were a limited number of complaints that were swiftly dealt with by management or the client and overall, the feedback received was positive. We are beginning the set up for our 5th Reggaeland event with JBM which is set to see capacity crowds of up to 50,000 each day and a varied security plan to improve mobilisation around the event as a way to combat issues detected last year.